vinotok

A few months ago Ben and I decided we would be joining the rest of the Madsen clan and book a room on the Mexican Riviera Cruise. Along with this booking, we set a goal to get in shape. So we signed up to run the Fall Colors Half Marathon in Crested Butte.
Well, like many of our good intentions, training fell by the wayside. I mean, the good intentions didn't completely fall by the wayside, but training didn't exactly include long runs or any speed, and sad for me no weight loss (Why is it so darn easy to gain weight, but so extremely hard to lose weight?! I hate it!). Just our daily morning three miler.
Anyways, the half marathon drew near, and our longest run was 6 miles. Ouch! So we decided, well, we can't get a refund, let's make a trip out of this and enjoy the mountains and experience Crested Butte.

Well, I'm here to announce I've found my new dream town. I'm serious about this one.  I am in love with Crested Butte. They call CB "the last great ski town." And it's true. Every ski town I have been to, is washed out with commercial tourism. But Crested Butte, is still how I imagine a ski town to be, small quaint, everything local. I haven't felt like I'm on the North Shore of Hawaii anywhere but here (minus the obvious mountain vs. beach, and Polynesian vs. hippie). Anyways, to say the least, poor Ben had to listen to my pleas to move to Crested Butte all the way home. :)

Okay so about our trip. We booked two nights at the hotel. Arriving around 5pm to unpack, eat dinner, play with Rivers and Canberra, put the two friends to bed, and go to sleep early, so we would be well rested by morning. Well, everything worked out just as planned, until Rivs woke up crying hysterically at 10:30 pm. It took forever to calm him down, and then, surprisingly enough, he fell asleep in bed with us. Then about 11 Canberra begins barking. 11:30 Canberra begins barking. 12 Rivers wakes up crying. 1:30 Canberra begins barking. 3 am Rivers wakes up, once again hysterical. After calming him down, he decides it's play time. 4 am everyone is asleep. 6 am Rivers is up and ready for the day . . . Ben and I feel awful.  Not only have we not slept the whole night, Ben has come down with a cold. But, remember, we can't get a refund. So we get ready to run.





Rivers has seen very little TV. So the Outdoor Channel thourghly delighted him.

At 8:30 am my parents arrived in Crested Butte, to spend the day hiking and exploring with Rivers (thank you mom and dad!), while Ben, Canberra and I stand on the starting line, high above Crested Butte, in a mountain full of color, ready run! 



The awesome babysitters! Rivers loved spending the day with his
Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Ted. I can't even say how grateful I am to
having them come up to spend the day with us!



The race was super small, absolutely gorgeous, and very fun. It reminded me of all my favorite runs back in high school during xc camp when we would travel to Scofield and run "the real thing" and well, I can't remember all the other names. :) Anyways, I loved it. The first part was slow. We forgot our watches, but it felt slow. I'm always slow at the beginning. But it was fun, we spent mile 3, 4 and 5 chatting with some of the locals about CB etc. only increasing my desire to move there even more! Finally around mile 5 I started to feel my groove a little more and we picked it up, catching people one by one. All the way Canberra ran between us (she's such a great dog). 

Anyways, the race was full of down hills and uphills. But that last mile really killed me. it was straight up hill all the way except for the last 50 meters to the finish line. We had set a pretty consistent pace the whole way, except for the last mile. Bummer! Anyways, we crossed the finish line at 2:03.10. 

As Ben limped away sore from head to toe, he told me, no more 1/2 marathons until we train. I had to agree. But this half really got me itching to do another one. I am in love with this distance. So yea, maybe I'll sign up and actually train for the next one. I'll let you know. :) 

Anyways, we ended the run lost somewhere in the mountains. My parents couldn't find us, and so we had to sneak Canberra on the shuttle. (and we have no photos from our race :( so sad).  

We eventually found my parents wondering around downtown Crested Butte with our wild toddler, swinging on bridges, snacking on baked goods, chasing dogs, and checking out trees and flower pots.  

Everyone was starving. So we found a restaurant, but like all the reviews said, all the restaurants are super slow in CB. And sitting after running for 13.1 miles, is just not what our bodies wanted. By the end of our delicious Thai dinner we were hurting. So we all headed back to the hotel, where my Dad and Rivs began snoring, and my mom fell in and out of sleep, and Ben and I hit the pool. The perfect after run activity. We started feeling so good swimming around in the pool that Ben was ready to go mountain biking.

Thankfully, we had a festival to be to. So I managed to talk him out of it (although, next fall we plan to take a trip to CB just for world class mountain biking, hiking, and the festival).

Now, this festival is exactly how festivals should be (and if I drank, I would feel even more this way). I think every festival I've ever been to consists of a thousand stands filled with nik-naks, fried food, and cotton candy.

Not Vinotok. Vinotok is the coolest festival ever. Vinotok is basically a huge celebration before it gets cold. It's a celebration of nature etc. For a week leading up to Vinotok there are boxes set up around town where everyone writes down there "grumps" (things that are making them unhappy). Then all these grumps are placed into "The Grump." That night there is a huge parade where anyone and everyone dresses up. Some people are voted to dress up as different people. The dressed up crowd then goes from shop to shop demanding free drinks. At about 6 pm the celebrations begin. Everyone parades around celebrating nature etc. and then they all stop in front of the "trial" where everyone continues playing music and dancing for about an hour.

At dusk the trial begins. It's a huge trial where they try The Grump. Always determining that he is guilty and must be burned. The whole town then marches down the street banging the drums chanting "burn the grump." They then light the massive bonfire, and burn the grump. Continuing to dance around the fire until late hours of the evening, in celebration of burning the grump.

So how did Rivers like Vinotok? One may ask. Drums, violins, clapping, dancing . . . the kid was in heaven. He was front and center for the entire celebration. Showing the whole crowd every move he has up his sleeve! (So sad I didn't have my video camera). You think Rivs has already had his share of photos taken just from his mom. Well, Vinotok made Rivers famous. Everyone was snapping photos of the dancing baby running around with an aspen wreath around his head. He was loving life.

A serenade just for Little Rivers (he was in love).

Dancing in the streets.

But between all his moving and grooving Rivs still found some time to make friends with the local dog.

And trade his french fry for the dogs raccoon.

So after a day of running 13.1 miles, walking the streets of CB, swimming for an hour and a half, and dancing for three hours, we were dreaming of a good nights rest. How did it go? Better. Despite her great run, we made Canberra sleep in the car (we felt so bad about that). But even after sending our guard dog out into the cold, Rivs woke up three times, and had another 3 am party (what is with that?!). But yes, it was better than the previous night.

The next day, we ate a delicious breakfast at Izzy's, packed up, strolled around the local farmer's market, then made the four hour drive home, where thankfully Rivs slept the whole way. And yes, that night, we all slept the entire night through! What a weekend! And I can't wait for next year's Vinotok!